A wire harness typically comprises a multiwire main trunk with numerous multiwire branches all terminating in electrical connectors. In the assembling of a wire harness, each wire is typically laid up on a wiring-harness, "lay-up" form board between its desired termination points with the wire placed in a plurality of wire-guide devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,934, "Assembly Post" by J. E. Caveney, discloses a clamping device mounted on a form board which has jaws biased to the closed position in which the center of the jaws contain an elastic strap. Thus, when a wire is inserted into the jaws, the strap tends to force the wires together, forming a compact bundle. While this device has the advantage of automatically grouping the wires together, it does not lend itself to automated assembly in that an automatic wire-laying head would have difficulty placing a wire within the jaws of the individual clamps.
Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,359, "Post Wire Guide Latching Means" by George Naranjo. Naranjo discloses a wire-guide latching device for use with telephone cables. The latching device comprises a pair of posts with a snap-on cross arm which forms a channel for the wires. The arm can be rotated to open the channel. This particular device has drawbacks when considered for use in an automated wire-harness assembly system in that the cross arm is not spring-biased to a closed position, nor are there detent means to hold positions, since the arm is primarily being held in position by friction.
Other examples of wire-guiding devices for use on the assembly of wire harnesses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,277, "Apparatus for Holding and Forming a Plurality of Objects into a Bundle" by J. J. Bulanda; U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,777, "Wire Harness Assembly" by E. T. Puzio; U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,719, "Wire Routing Apparatus" by U. R. Rubey and, finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,852, "Corner Post Harness Assembly Apparatus" by J. J. Bulanda, et al.
None of these patents disclose a latching device for use on a wire-harness form board which allows the wire-dispensing head to move a spring-biased arm to an open position and allowing the wire to be placed in the channel, with the biasing means automatically returning the arm to its retracted position and, also, with a detent means for releasably holding the arm in the closed and open positions.
Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a wire-harness latching device for a wire-harness form board which is adapted to allow automated wire-harness layup.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a latching device which provides for easy removal of the wiring harness from the form board after assembly.
It is still a further object of the subject invention to provide a latching device for use on a wire-harness fabrication form board which can accommodate both automated wire lay-up and manual wire lay-up procedures.